"HOME" Solo Exhibition

Acryla Gouache on Wood

When I was in elementary school, my mom and I went down to the hardware store downtown to pick up my customized copy of our house key together. As I looked at all the options on the wall, I saw a blue design with lightning bolts. Since it had my favorite color of blue, I chose that design to distinguish the key as my own.

Ink and Paper

Over the course of the past few months, I found myself thinking the same phrase over and over: “I want to go home”. While packing up my old room, settling my things into my new one, and at random times throughout the day, that phrase stuck with me. Since I couldn't go back to Laguna Beach and the new house didn’t quite feel like my home yet, I found myself feeling detached and homesick.

Acryla Gouache on Wood

I was very fortunate to be able to call one place “home” throughout my entire childhood. I became very settled in our little apartment, investing memories in nearly every nook and cranny. Leaving a place with a treasure trove of memories has been extremely difficult to say the least.

Watercolors and Acryla Gouache on Paper

Only a couple blocks away from my house, I was able to walk down to Diver’s Cove during the summer to hear the crashing of the waves and see the crystal clear water. Although most tourists to Laguna Beach go to the larger beaches like Main Beach, the smaller ones seem to belong mainly to the locals. After years of summers with family days at the beach, I noticed that the water seemed to clear up when someone arrived or left the beach, almost offering a warm welcome and a promise of clear waters when the visitors chose to return.

Acrylics on Canvas

After my high school classes ended in the afternoons, my friends and I would walk down from the high school together and often end up at Main Beach to hang out and enjoy each other’s company. We would often get gelato or pizza and sit on the boardwalk together to watch the waves. We would also take over the play structure to play a variation of tag we called “Ninja Tag”. Instead of only running to escape being tagged, we would also climb on the play structure, just out of reach of whoever was “it”.

Acryla Gouache on Canvas

Serving as my elementary school bus stop and later one of my favorite places to relax, Riddle Field is the park closest to my old house. Hosting birthday parties, watching little league games, exploring the hills, swinging on the swings, and playing catch were a handful of activities I grew up doing at the park. In elementary school, my friends and I would explore the trees near the play structure and claim our favorite branches to sit on while we pretended to be spies, warriors, and adventurers.

Acryla Gouache on Canvas

Memorizing a new street address has been one of the many little changes that has resulted from moving. There are so many areas of my life that I didn’t realize needed updating after changing addresses. For ordering things online, changing billing and shipping addresses, updating school contact information, and other important documents required me to face in a small way the reality of the move.

Acryla Gouache on Canvas

Sitting on the same keychain are my old and new house keys. The contrast could not be more stark. My old key proudly shows the wear and tear of over a decade of memories, while the new key shows little to no wear at all. My old key has been customized to my taste, while the new one is plain and standard.

Acryla Gouache on Canvas

Although our family has had bikes since before the move, a new little tradition of going out together on a little bike ride around the cul de sac has developed after moving. Since we have a garage for the first time, we can store our bikes in a way that allows for easier access to them. Therefore, as a way to combat feeling sad about moving, we have tried to be a little more active, letting the fresh air and calming repetitive ride soothe our troubled hearts.

Acryla Gouache on Canvas

Living in Lake Forest by a man made lake has had its perks, including meeting the local wildlife. Although lovely, the black swans that seem to own the neighborhood are very bold in asking for handouts. If they see that you are standing near the water’s edge, they will motor over to you, expecting some lettuce or other green treat. Being on the lookout for these troublemakers, then rushing out to the lakeside with my dad’s lettuce for sandwiches in hand has been a fun pastime in getting used to the new house.

Watercolor on Paper

Upstairs from the living room area, there is a little office that has a couple cutouts in the wall, allowing you to look down from above the living room. This crow’s nest of sorts gives us an opportunity to prank each other, by throwing a balled up pair of socks at the unsuspecting victim watching TV downstairs. This has become a new family game, with us getting more sneaky and precise in our aiming.

In our old house we had mainly carpet, so having hardwood floors in the downstairs area of the house has been a pleasant addition. One night I figured out that I could run then slide on the floors while wearing socks, and I told my mom who was standing in the kitchen to look out the little hallway entrance to see me slide into view.

Watercolor on Paper

If you know me, you know that I love dogs more than nearly anything on the planet. Since second grade, I have wanted to have a dog. However, since our old apartment did not allow residents to have furry pets, I had a few fish and a leopard gecko instead. Now that we have moved into our own house, we plan on getting a puppy after I graduate from Westmont this coming May. Obviously the day I get a dog will be declared a national holiday or something, so be prepared to add it to your calendars. In preparation for that dream to finally come true, my family and I have been learning about the best ways to train our new puppy and what supplies we need to prepare for when she first comes home.

Specific Titles: “Leash”, “Milk Bone”, “Dog Bed”, “Collar”, “Dog Food”, “Tennis Ball”, “Rawhide”, “Dog Bowl”, “Kong Toy”, “Frisbee”

Watercolor on Paper

Part of the “Supplies for Lucy” Series

Watercolor on Paper

Part of the “Supplies for Lucy” Series

Watercolor on Paper

Part of the “Supplies for Lucy” Series

Watercolor on Paper

Part of the “Supplies for Lucy” Series

Watercolor on Paper

Part of the “Supplies for Lucy” Series

Watercolor on Paper

Part of the “Supplies for Lucy” Series

Watercolor on Paper

Part of the “Supplies for Lucy” Series

Watercolor on Paper

Part of the “Supplies for Lucy” Series

Acrylics and Embroidery Thread on Canvas

These two halves of a heart reflect how moving from my childhood home has made me feel torn. There is a part of me who wants to live in the beloved memories of the past, who misses the times I cannot return to. There is another part of me who looks to the future in the new house as an opportunity for long held dreams to come true. Trying to figure out how to live in both emotions, loss and hope, has been a difficult task.

Acrylics and Embroidery Thread on Canvas

Acrylics and Embroidery Thread on Canvas

Mixed Media

Many families hold different Christmas traditions, from decorating gingerbread houses together to how they choose to ornament their trees. Although we do other traditions as well, the one that stands out is how we hang ornaments from the ceiling. This tradition started with my Grandma Kent, however once she passed away it became my family’s job to carry on the tradition. Over the years we have collected quite a few ornaments to hang from our ceiling, around 400 to offer curious people a number. This past Christmas was the first time we have celebrated the holiday in the new house, so our old methods needed to be adjusted. Serving as a sort of bridge from old traditions to new ones, hanging ornaments together this year was a way to make the new house more familiar.

Mixed Media